South Western Railway (SWR) is warning passengers that it will be running a severely reduced service over the Christmas period due to a shortage of staff.
Disruption map (c) SWR
Members of the RMT union who work for SWR are holding industrial action which includes a ban on overtime and working on rest days, leaving the train company short of staff over the Christmas period.
The RMT action affects people in a variety of roles, including guards on trains as well as dispatchers on platforms and shunters in our depots. This means that SWR’s ability to operate train services is significantly limited throughout the extended period of industrial action.
As a result, SWR is warning that it will be offering severely reduced service from 7am to 10pm only from Monday 19th December through to 2nd January, with some parts of the network closed for either the whole period or on certain days, and some smaller stations closed entirely.
In addition, on Sunday 18th December, there will be a very limited service consisting of just:
- Four trains per hour in each direction between London Waterloo and Woking
- Two trains per hour in each direction between London Waterloo and Basingstoke
- Two trains per hour in each direction between London Waterloo and Southampton Central
- One train per hour between Basingstoke and Salisbury
On 24th December (Christmas Eve), there will be a reduced service with an early shutdown. Some last services from London Waterloo will leave as early as midday, with all services finished and trains taken out of service by 3pm.
On Tuesday 27th December, there will be a late start-up from around midday followed by a reduced service.
SWR is advising people to check each day before travelling as parts of the network may be affected, but a rough guide is below:
| Sun 18th Dec | Very limited service |
| Mon 19th Dec | Reduced service between 7am to 10pm |
| Tues 20th Dec | Reduced service between 7am to 10pm |
| Wed 21st Dec | Reduced service between 7am to 10pm |
| Thur 22nd Dec | Reduced service between 7am to 10pm |
| Fri 23rd Dec | Reduced service between 7am to 10pm |
| Sat 24th Dec | Services stopping by 3pm |
| Christmas Day | No service |
| Mon 26th Dec | No service |
| Tues 27th Dec | Late start from Midday |
| Wed 28th Dec | Reduced service between 7am to 10pm |
| Thur 29th Dec | Reduced service between 7am to 10pm |
| Fri 30th Dec | Reduced service between 7am to 10pm |
| Sat 31st Dec | Reduced service between 7am to 10pm |
| Sun 1st Jan | Limited service running late at night for NYE |
| Mon 2nd Jan | Reduced service between 7am to 10pm |
| Tues 3rd Jan | National rail strike – severely reduced service |
| Wed 4th Jan | National rail strike – severely reduced service |
| Thurs 5th Jan | No strike, but expect disruption in the morning and evening |
| Fri 6th Jan | National rail strike – severely reduced service |
| Sat 7th Jan | National rail strike – severely reduced service |
| Sun 8th Jan | No strike, but expect disruption in the morning |
South Western Railway’s Performance and Planning Director, Steve Tyler, said: “While not a strike, the overtime ban limits the number of trains we can get into service each day and we have had to make some difficult decisions to be able to provide a reliable and consistent service throughout the period.
“We are urging customers to check their entire journey before setting off and thank them for their patience and cooperation during this damaging industrial action by the RMT.”
There’s also strike action across the entire rail network in the first week of January.
Thank you Mick Grinch.
Can someone in SWR please recheck the published dates for the restricted services please as every single date is wrong by one day eg Xmas eve is NOT on Saturday 24th December but on Sunday 24th so all dates before and after are completely wrong.
Christmas Eve was on a Saturday in 2022, when this article was published.